The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave final approval on November 6 for Coinbase National Trust Company, a federally chartered trust bank that will house Coinbase’s institutional custody business.
The move should give institutional investors greater confidence. Coinbase already custodies a significant share of the bitcoin backing US spot ETFs, and a nationally supervised trust bank carries more regulatory weight than a state charter. The company plans to migrate its entire custody operation from Coinbase Custody Trust Company, its New York state trust company, over three years.
The approved scope is narrower than much of the coverage suggests. According to the April conditional approval, the bank will provide digital asset custody as a fiduciary, mainly for institutional clients, along with transfers of custodied fiat and digital assets. Staking, prime trading and prime financing all stay with Coinbase affiliates. The bank acts only as an introducer, connecting custody clients to those affiliate services.
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